Does water go off?

[Flashman]

And yeah, it does go off. Occasionally I find an old bottle hiding somewhere, and it smells of shite.

 

[editor]

Every few years, i find myself unable to drink tap water without feeling slightly ill for a few hours - headachey and what i imagine high blood pressure feels like.

And that couldn't possibly be down to the plumbing in your house or personal health /allergy issues, could it?

 

[blossie33]

I always thought the sell by date on bottled water was more to do with it absorbing something from the plastic rather than water going 'off'.
I must admit I am not that keen on the taste of some tap water. The water where my grandmother lived (Worcestershire) was aweful, it reaked of clorrine, even my Aunt's dogs wouldn't touch it!
London water is not too bad but I still prefer to use a water filter jug or bottled.

 

[Blagsta]

not on the west side it isnt (3 valleys plc) not straight from the tap anyway.

Taste's fine to me.

 

[Blagsta]

something that REEKS of chlorine can hardly be considered healthy.

West London tap water reeks of chlorine? Errr....where in west London? Certainly not in Ealing. You sure you're not trying to drink from a swimming pool?

 

[Psychonaut]

And that couldn't possibly be down to the plumbing in your house or personal health /allergy issues, could it?

Judging by the lack of sporadic ill-health epidemics in west london, it seems probable i do have some unknown chemical/mineral sensitivity.

plumbing issues would be more-or-less constant and not sporadic id have thought?

 

[madzone]

I don't know how any of you can drink the water in London - well, Hackney anyway. There's slime/scummy stuff on top of the tea

 

[beeboo]

Welsh tap water tastes better than Evian.

you're not wrong - in Wales last week I emptied out a bottle of mineral water to fill it with tap water to take home with me.

 

[Radar]

I don't know how any of you can drink the water in London - well, Hackney anyway. There's slime/scummy stuff on top of the tea

That's becuase the water down here is well hard. ("You staring at my pint ")

But then, hard water is supposed to be better for you in some circumstances. It won't dissolve lead from old lead piping, and it's supposed to offer some protection against heart disease.

 

[Psychonaut]

West London tap water reeks of chlorine? Errr....where in west London? Certainly not in Ealing. You sure you're not trying to drink from a swimming pool?

Northolt. I say 3valleys reeks of chlorine, you are free to disagree.

I do have more acute senses than most (autism), but its not like ALL mains water reeks of chlorine - i had some in barking recently that seemed chlorine-free by comparison - as if it had been pre-evaporated & filtered.

This is a mid 70s estate (i think) so its possible the newer pipework, combined with the high volume of use means less chlorine dissipates en-route to the tap compared to a 30s semi with one resident (for example). Perhaps ill start taking notes.

 

[Calva dosser]

That's becuase the water down here is well hard. ("You staring at my pint ")

But then, hard water is supposed to be better for you in some circumstances. It won't dissolve lead from old lead piping, and it's supposed to offer some protection against heart disease.

Interestingly, heart disease rates in South Wales were always higher than in London. Whether this is still true, I don't know, but in the 70's and 80's it was put down to the calcium in London water.

Could've just been due to stress caused by some bitch closing the only sources of employment.

 

[Blagsta]

I don't know how any of you can drink the water in London - well, Hackney anyway. There's slime/scummy stuff on top of the tea

That's because it's hard water, i.e. has lime (calcium) dissolved in it. Good for your teeth and bones.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

That's because it's hard water, i.e. has lime (calcium) dissolved in it. Good for your teeth and bones.

Does lime turn to scum when you boil water?

Our water on the prairies was hard as nails, but it didn't form a scum. That sounds like detergent traces in the water.

 

[Wookey]

Does lime turn to scum when you boil water?

Our water on the prairies was hard as nails, but it didn't form a scum. That sounds like detergent traces in the water.

The mighty engines of science were first focused on Tea Scum in 1992, when chemists Michael Spiro and Deogratius Jaganyl of the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London were asked by a tea manufacturer to research this vexing problem of tea scum.

They began by heating up London mains tap water to 80°C, adding tea bags, and having a really good look. They saw that the more tea bags they used, and the longer they left the tea bags in, the more scum they would get. They collected some of this scum with an aluminium scoop. With an electron microscope, they saw an organic layer with small white patches of calcium carbonate on the surface. They scum was about 15% calcium carbonate, and 85% complicated organic chemicals.

Now calcium ions and bicarbonate ions will combine with each other to make calcium carbonate. This reaction can be driven backwards in an acid environment - and if they added lemon juice, they got less scum. The scum formed only if there were both calcium ions and bicarbonate ions in the water. Pure distilled water did not make tea scum, nor did pure distilled water with either calcium ions or bicarbonate ions. If they added milk (which is loaded with calcium), they got more scum than if they didn't add the milk.

So it seemed as though tea scum would form only if there were calcium and bicarbonate ions in the water. It also seemed that some of these ions solidified as little crystals of calcium carbonate - also called limestone. This calcium carbonate is the ''familiar fur formed on the inside of kettles and heating pipes in hot water regions''.

But what about the organic chemicals in the scum?

Spiro and Jaganyl did some chemistry, and found in the tea scum a family of chemicals called the polyphenols. These polyphenols are anti-oxidants - and supposedly increase your life expectancy by getting rid of nasty oxidising chemicals in your body.

Now London tap water is a hard water loaded with minerals. So their conclusion was that ''Tea scum is a complex organic material derived from the oxidation of tea soluble (chemicals, and the reaction is pushed along with the help of) calcium salts and (is) accompanied by (the formation of) calcium carbonate.''

http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/trek/4wd/Over58.htm (plus other theories)

 

[Blagsta]

Does lime turn to scum when you boil water?

Our water on the prairies was hard as nails, but it didn't form a scum. That sounds like detergent traces in the water.

It forms a film with tea. It reacts with the tannins.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/trek/4wd/Over58.htm (plus other theories)

Can you see the scum if you put milk in?

 

[WouldBe]

Can you see the scum if you put milk in?

Your more likely to see the scum without milk.

Hard water can be caused by magnesium as well as calcium in the water. You might have high magnesium levels instead.

 

[Techno303]

Interestingly, heart disease rates in South Wales were always higher than in London. Whether this is still true, I don't know, but in the 70's and 80's it was put down to the calcium in London water.

Could've just been due to stress caused by some bitch closing the only sources of employment.

That and the rissoles.